Editor Discussion – The Indies Of E3 2014

There were hundreds of games on display at this year’s E3, many of which were brand new triple-A titles being built by massive teams and budgets. But some of the most exciting projects on display were smaller indie titles. Several of the GI editors had opportunities to play and demo these projects, with an eye towards pointing the Game Informer community to some of the smaller independent games worth paying attention to in the coming months.

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Miller: Kato, I’m interested to get your perspective on the indie stuff. You hit up a slew of titles at pre-E3, but then you helped hold down our home base in Minneapolis during the actual show. What sort of perspective did you end up with about the indies that were here?

Kato: Well, first off, it’s a shame I didn’t go, because with so many indie games around, I would have liked to have seen more. Having said that, I’m struck by how many flavors there are. I mean, off the top of my head I can think of four or five games I liked, and they are all different from each other.

Miller: Tell me a favorite.

Kato: I was really taken by Darkest Dungeon (below). It’s a turn-based dungeon crawler that is all about making your life as a party of dungeon crawlers f-ing miserable. I’m not the best strategy guy out there, but the sheer breadth of things they thought up with to mess with you is astounding. Your party gets stressed out, there are buffs/de-buffs all over the place, and the combat system is pretty deep. I also really like the look and dialogue, too.

Miller: Yeah, Darkest Dungeon looks rad. I’m a big Lovecraft fan, and that game seems to be tapping some of that aesthetic. I didn’t get a chance to see it during the show, but I’m glad to hear you liked it. How about you, Jeff? Any standouts?

Jeff M: I really liked Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime. It’s a charming little space game where you and a friend (or lover, I guess) pilot a circular ship around in space and try to rescue bunnies and fight enemies.

Kato: What kind of terrible enemy feasts on space bunnies?

Jeff M: I don’t know. Space jerks, I guess. But the cool thing about the game is that you have to run between all of these consoles on the ship that control different functions, like the propulsion or turrets.

Miller: I also really liked Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime. Apropos to its name, like you said, it feels like a game that would be really fun to play with a friend or a spouse.

Jeff M: Yeah, I think that’s the point, Though I wasn’t playing the demo with anyone and the A.I. filled in with a dog. You could simply bring up a reticle and select what part of the ship you wanted him to control, and he’d run over there. It seemed to work pretty well, though a human co-op partner would definitely be more fun.

Kato: Yelling at your friends sounds fun. “Do the thing with the thing over there! Push that button!”